Estimation of loss components in a cascaded H-bridge StatCom

A technique has previously been proposed to compensate for the non-ideal components present in each phase-leg of a cascaded H-bridge Statcom [1]. The main disadvantage of this technique is that a designer must specify the magnitude of the voltage drops associated with the diodes and switches. In practice the on-state voltage drops will vary from their datasheet specifications in a non-uniform manner. This paper introduces techniques to estimate the loss components in the H-bridges and provides simulation and experimental results showing the improvement in current tracking performance.